Monday 23 January 2012

Art Clay Silver Masterclass with Beads Direct!

If you are a regular follower of my blog you will know that one of my favourite UK suppliers is Beads Direct and that I have been lucky enough to work with them on a couple of occasions.  So when they told me that they were going to be running an Art Clay Silver Masterclass with two of the UK's top instructors and asked if I'd like to join them, I jumped at the chance!  I have never worked with any kind of metal clay before (you know me, I am normally a strictly seedy girl!) but I have often admired the finished work created using this medium and when I saw that one of the classes was to make a silver leaf, I thought that this would work well alongside my current work.  The classes were held at the easily accessible Yew Lodge Hotel just off Junction 24 of the M1 and as we arrived we were all welcomed by the Beads Direct staff who pointed us in the direction of tea, coffee and biscuits.  Nearly everyone arrived early and so it was lovely to sit in the plush hotel foyer and get to know the other students and learn how far they had travelled, what kind of beadwork they enjoy and what they hoped to achieve from the course.  After a round of introductions and a quick health and safety chat, it was straight down to work and our instructor Natalia let us all choose a leaf that she had picked from the hotel grounds that morning - I think the hotel guests who were having their breakfast in the warm dry glass-fronted restaurant must have wondered what on earth the woman foraging in the wet foliage was up to!  I chose a small leaf and carefully began to coat it with my Art Clay under the watchful gaze of Natalia:






Natalia explained to us how to mix each coat to the right consistency, gradually building up the coats of clay on our leaves as we carefully dried each layer before moving onto the next one.






We then learnt how to set a decorative stone into our leaves and eventually our leaves were ready to go into the kiln to dry while we wandered around the room chatting to the other students and staff.






Although they aren't perfect, our leaves were not bad for a first attempt and we were all happy with the results of our work, keen to try out other ideas and hoping to eventually achieve something more like our tutor's inspirational work!






I had a thoroughly enjoyable day and I can't wait to incorporate my little silver leaf with its peridot crystal into some of my seed bead work.  If you would like to have a go at using Art Clay Silver, Beads Direct offer a comprehensive starter kit complete with instructions and they also sell a great range of tools for when you are ready to branch out. Don't forget to keep an eye on the Beads Direct website, blog and Facebook page to see what other exciting events they have planned for the future!


Friday 13 January 2012

The Family Tree

As promised in my last blog entry I finally managed to finish my first piece which uses one of The Beadsmith's clasps from their 'Elegant Elements' range.  As soon as I saw this beautiful nest clasp, I knew that I wanted to create some kind of leafy necklace with two little birds waiting for their brood to hatch.  I've lost count of the number of hours and the metres of Fireline that have gone into this piece, but I know that it has taken me the best part of three weeks to complete.  Several times I found myself merrily attaching leaves in what I thought was the right place and then later feeling dissatisfied and chopping them off again, but I am finally content with the outcome and I think the birds look at home too.











Of course I stuck to the palette I have challenged myself to work in until September 2012 but I think that 'The Family Tree' will fit in quite nicely with the Midnight Garden exhibition.  Now I have another clasp to work with and I will show you the results of that as soon as it's ready.  In the meantime, you can see the inspirational work from the other artists in the 'Elegant Elements' group in this Facebook album.

Tuesday 10 January 2012

An elegant element!

Well here we are on the other side of the holiday season with 2012 already well under way.  I hope you all had an enjoyable time and that you haven't broken all your New Year's Resolutions just yet!  I had a lovely quiet family holiday and I managed to squeeze in some beading time, which is just as well as the projects are mounting up.  A few weeks ago I was invited by The Beadsmith to join a group of international bead artists who were all asked to choose two clasps from the new 'Elegant Elements' range and then to make a couple of pieces to show possible ways to use the clasps.  The first clasp I chose was the CLSP40SP Nest with 6 pearls:


I fell in love with this little nest clasp as soon as I saw it and all sorts of ideas popped into my head, some of which turned out to be completely unworkable!  However, now I've spent around 50 hours on this piece, it is starting to take shape and I am hoping to have pictures of the finished necklace to show you in just a few days time.  In the meantime, here's a little peek at what's been on my bead tray for the last couple of weeks:






And as another teaser, here is a rather ungainly shot of one of the finished components.  Can you tell what I'm trying to create yet?  Leave your guesses in the comments box and I will be back to reveal the completed piece very soon!


Friday 23 December 2011

Season's Greetings!

Around this time every year I like to look back on the previous 12 months in my little beady world.  As I ponder, I try and work out whether I met my goals for the year and I smile when I think of how some of those goal posts had to be moved time and time again.  I like to think about the lessons learned and the ones that I need to re-take and I also like to reflect on all the little unexpected twists and turns that life threw at me.  I also spend time dreaming about the promise of the coming year.  I have some plans in place, but really, anything could happen and although that thought makes part of me very nervous, the rest of me finds that an exciting prospect - I have beads and I can make anything, I have life and I can do anything.  Thank you to each and every one of you for your support throughout 2011 and whatever your beliefs, I wish you a wonderful holiday season and a 2012 full of health, happiness and hope!




See you in 2012!

Kerrie x

Friday 2 December 2011

The Gateway to the Garden!

This piece only measures 2 inches by 1½ inches (5cm by 4cm) but it has still taken me the best part of 3 weeks to make!  I've loved labradorite since the first time I saw it and I always felt that it has magical properties, so I knew I wanted to use some in my Midnight Garden exhibition.  When I spotted this pendant at Kandra's Beads I thought it looked like a doorway (one I very much wanted to walk through) and I wondered if I would be able to create my vision in beads.  My idea was to make it look like an arch through an ancient walled garden that you might stumble upon on a moonlight ramble.  The wall would be covered in vines and leaves that had grown up around it with long grass at the base and maybe there would be an old gnarled tree curving around the entrance.  All of these things would form a frame and through that frame you would be able to glimpse the magic inside.  Then, as you stand transfixed, not knowing whether to cross that threshold or to leave with your secret, you hold your breath as you gaze at the glorious backdrop of the night sky wondering whether the dark intriguing shapes could be fairies dancing in the moonlight?  So I set about using my beads, needle and thread to create The Gateway to the Garden ... 









I hope you enjoy looking at my new piece but more importantly, I hope that you can see what I see.

As always, I love to receive your comments. so let me know what you think and I'll be back whenever something new grows in the Midnight Garden.

Kerrie



Wednesday 9 November 2011

The Guardian of the Garden!

A couple of weeks ago I visited the Harrogate bead fair and although I didn't really need any more beads, I was on the look out for some unusual components that I could perhaps incorporate in the Midnight Garden exhibition.  One of the things that caught my eye was a little Amazonite owl from Meena's Gems.  I was drawn to him immediately, but as he's a carved ornament and not a bead, I wasn't sure how I could combine him with my beadwork - but I gave him a home anyway, just in case.  As soon as I'd finished the Dragon's Egg ring I set to work on creating a piece that my owl would be happy with.  I imagined him nestled in a hollow in an old tree, snuggled deep inside, half hidden but still able to peer out of the foliage to keep an eye on what exactly goes on in the garden at midnight.  It was also important to me to make sure that he would still be able to fly whenever the mood took him (when I'm not looking of course!) and so here is the result of my work for the last 2 weeks - Asio, Guardian of the Garden!  I think he looks right at home, what do you think?














Wednesday 26 October 2011

Now available in California!

I'm afraid I don't have any new beadwork to show you this week as the next piece in the Midnight Garden collection is taking a bit of coaxing, but I do have some exciting news!  My friend Kandra recently opened a new bead store in Solvang which is in California (USA) and not only does she stock a mouthwatering range of beads and beading accessories, she now sells copies of my patterns on CD.  So if you live within travelling distance of Solvang you can drop into Kandra's Beads at 1539A Mission Drive and purchase a CD and then browse through the great range of beads to choose the colours for your project!  Of course you can still purchase a pdf of each pattern direct from my website and these will normally be emailed to you within a few minutes of your purchase, but if you would prefer a CD and cannot get to the store, Kandra also offers a postal service.




Although this is a new store, Kandra has a wealth of experience (this is actually her fifth bead store!) and she is also a talented beader and teacher, so she knows what she is talking about if you need help with anything whether it be choosing colours or tracking down hard to find materials.  As you can see from the picture below, the store looks very inviting and although it looks small on the outside, it is actually deceptively large on the inside with a huge range of tempting beady treats including Kandra's own lampwork beads and the walls are lined with her beadwork too.  The store also hosts trunk shows and offers a range of beading classes.  As well as a bricks and mortar shop, Kandra also offers an international mail order service, so why not take a virtual wander through her store and don't forget to pop a CD in your basket!




I have my own little display area within the shop and as you can see from the pictures below, the CDs are all arranged in neat racks and they even have their own labels making it easy to choose the right project.







I'd like to publicly thank Kandra for giving me this opportunity and also for doing such a wonderful job in setting this all up for me.  Thank you Kandra!

Kerrie